Gurtong: Residents in Yei River State are appealing to South Sudan’s peace parties currently holding a consultative meeting in Addis Ababa to recommit to reach a compromise and agree on the formation of the transitional government on national unity on November 12th. 2019.
The IGAD mediation desk on South Sudan Revitalized Peace Agreement extended invitation to all stakeholders to the peace agreement to convene for a three days meeting in the Ethiopian Capital Addis Ababa to review progress and challenges on the implementation of the September 2018 revitalized peace deal.
Among other top issues delaying the implementation of the peace pact according to civil society actors, political parties, political and economic analysts were limited funding, operationalization of the security arrangements and the number of states.
Joice Kiden Jeremiah, Lainya County resident said common citizens on the ground are too tire of war and displacements and are in urgent need for total peace and stability to enable them re-start a new life journey.
“My message should go directly to Government and the opposition groups who are now in Addisaba is that we the women of Lainya County are tired of war. We need peace so that we can go to the farm and produce our own food. We need peace so that we can send our children to school, we need peace so that other women can produce children and we need peace so that we can re-settle and rebuild our broken walls in the towns and villages”
Betty Joseph, another resident in Morobo County, said, “We have lost most of our children and properties because of the war. We are calling on the parties whether in the Government and the opposition to hear the cry of the common citizens of South Sudan desperately in need of peace and stability in the country”
Betty continued as saying, “For us the common people on the ground we need peace and stable security, our humble and urgent appeal to our leaders meeting in Addis Ababa is to agree and compromise on some of the sticky issues and respect the November deadline for the formation of the new revitalized peace agreement”.
Alison Taban, another resident in Yei River County, welcomed the IGAD invitation and demanded the South Sudanese leaders to put the interest of its citizens on top of their personal agenda:
“We are suffering on the ground. We are tired of war. We are calling on our leaders to see the suffering of the common citizens on the ground. We need peace and stability so that we can contribute to the development of this great nation”.
Bishop Hillary Luate Adeba of the Episcopal Diocese of Yei also added his voice calling on the parties to commit to the full implementation of the revitalized peace agreement to end the suffering of the civil population in South Sudan:
“I want to add my voice in search for peace in this country. The people of South Sudan, and particularly Yei River State, have been subjected into untold suffering. Implementing the peace agreement is the only way to restore hope, dignity, trust, unity and confidence among the South Sudanese people”.
South Sudan got into her own civil war just two years after seceding from the rest of Sudan in 2011 and since then internal conflicts continued and worsened by another internal party disagreement in 2016.
